Former Dolphins Coach Brian Flores Is Accusing The Dolphins Of Trying To Force His Racial Discrimination Claims Into A Secret Arbitration

NFL: Miami Dolphins at Tennessee Titans
Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports

Former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores is currently in the process of suing the NFL for racial discrimination.

According to Flores’ lawyers at Wigdor Law, The Dolphins recently filed letters with League Commissioner Roger Goodell to try and push the lawsuit to a secret arbitration, which would mean all information from the lawsuit would remain private.

Flores himself released a statement. “The claims that we filed involve important issues of systemic race discrimination and the integrity of NFL football games,” Flores said. “Unfortunately, the Dolphins and their attorneys, Quinn Emanuel and Paul Weiss, are trying to push the claims against the Dolphins into secret arbitration proceedings that lack transparency.”

Flores continued, “Commissioner Goodell now has a choice to make.  Will he allow this case and future race discrimination claims to play out in a transparent and public legal process, or continue along the same unacceptable path?”

Former Raiders coach Jon Gruden is claiming the NFL is trying to push his lawsuit to arbitration. LOJ founder Amy Dash said, “Dolphins could have a stronger chance of forcing this one to arbitration if in fact there is a clause in the employment contract between the coach and the club that addresses resolving these types of disputes in an arbitration, which is different from Gruden’s lawsuit.

Dash continued, “The NFL may also be trying to move the Gruden dispute to arbitration, but it would be inherently biased for the NFL to be in charge of ruling upon a matter in which it is a defendant versus arbitrating a matter between a club and a coach. Flores’ lawsuit is also against the NFL and the other teams, so there could be a scenario where his dispute with the club might be forced into arbitration but his dispute with the league and other clubs within the league might be able to be moved forward in a court of law.

Flores accused Dolphins owner Stephen Ross of offering to bribe him to fix games. He claimed Ross offered him $100,000 per loss to intentionally fix Dolphins games so the team would tank and be able to secure a first overall draft pick.

There were obviously rumors that NFL teams in the past have wanted to lose to secure the first overall pick in the NFL Draft, but this marked the first time in recent history that a high profile coach has claimed an owner offered to bribe him to fix a game.

Flores also claims Ross pressured him to violate the league’s tampering rules and when he refused, Ross “set him up” by placing him on a yacht with a high-profile prospective quarterback to force the meeting.

Flores claimed once he refused, he was labeled as an “angry black man” and difficult to work with. Flores also claimed that a main point of his firing was that he was viewed as not communicative or collaborative enough.

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